Surviving adversity: personal and career resilience in the AEC industry during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study aimed to explore the personal and career resilience of project management practitioners working in the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries and their organizational support in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic offered a unique opportunity to explore resilience both as a state (using quantitative scales) and as a process (using qualitative responses) in the context of a shared transboundary disturbance in normal routines. A mixed methods approach was used to triangulate quantitative and qualitative data from an online survey which included established scales and open-ended questions. Informed by a total of 121 valid survey responses, hierarchical regression analysis of the scales provided insights into the relationship between career and personal resilience and how personal resilience contributed to greater career resilience and the ability to positively adapt to the pandemic's consequences. The quantitative analysis was complemented by a thematic analysis of the open-ended responses to identify the forms of organizational support that were important for resilience building during the pandemic. Organizational resources, such as training, mentoring, increased communication, and greater management support fostered employee adaptation to the pandemic shock. Evidence-based recommendations are made for AEC organizations to facilitate better workforce preparation for future adversities through providing effective resilience-promoting support mechanisms. The findings add to the body of knowledge by providing a better understanding of the importance of personal and career resilience and the role of organizational support in the process of resilience-building during adversities.

The work readiness–career resilience linkage: implications for project talent management

PurposeThere is a need for project management practitioners to adapt and thrive in today's volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) project-based workplaces. In this paper, the linkage between work readiness and career resilience is developed, presenting both concepts as critical for effective strategic responses and adaptation to the changing labor market in organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe resource-based view (RBV) and integrated dynamic capabilities (IDCs) are the theoretical lenses that are used to link the concepts of work readiness and career resilience across the individual and organizational levels.FindingsA framework and model are proposed to establish a holistic understanding of catalysts for addressing the VUCA context that organizations face. The proposed conceptual linkage adds a chronological dimension to the formation of the interrelated dynamic capabilities during the early career phase of project management practitioners.Practical implicationsThe contribution to the project management literature includes a theoretically driven conceptual framework that links two complementary concepts to address the career challenges faced by project managers. Work readiness is positioned as an enabler of career resilience and together they constitute vital attributes which foster talent retention in the current VUCA work environment.Originality/valueWork readiness and career resilience are underexplored topics in the project management literature, both individually and in conjunction. Specifically, there is a research gap in view of linking these two concepts to present them as a catalyst for project management talent sustainability, and the proposed framework is an initial step in addressing these gaps.